One fairly unique feature of France is that it hosts a large ?eet of nuclear reactors. It is owned by the incumbent, EdF, and provides this 85-percent state-owned enterprise with an economic advantage to compete on price. Moreover, because the energy mix in continental Europe is unbalanced, French nuclear power generation bene?ts from an extra scarcity rent which is likely to last for a long time. Since the opening of the retail market to competition in July 2007, the allocation of this rent and the survival of EdF.